The 2017 Edition of the CPC runs March 2-13 at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind.

Category Archives: Poker

The 2017 Chicago Poker Classic spanned 12 days, and over $300,000 in promotional bonus was given away. Thanks to all who participated! Here are the 14 event winners, along with links to results for each event.

The final event of the CPC has come to a close. The $250 Last Chance Turbo drew 156 entries for a total prize pool of $31,512. George Tomasevich (pictured) won the event for $8,510 and a $10,000 seat into the WSOP Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas this summer.

Tomasevich is a local mostly Omaha cash player, but likes to play tournaments too. This is his third cash, and third final table, this series. He took 9th in Event #3 $400 PLO for $1,109 and 8th in Event #10 $250 NLH Turbo for $1,403. Tomasevich says he ran bad at both final tables. He finally got some redemption here in his third try, and ran very good at the final table.

After busting out of the $360 Turbo earlier in the day, Tomasevich hopped into the Last Chance Turbo to give it one last try. He says he got off to a good start early, building up at his first table and the next table he was moved to. When they got down to two tables, Tomasevich was the chip leader, but he cooled off. He was seated at Angelo Fuscone’s table at that time, and Tomasevich says Fuscone kept getting aces and knocking people out. Tomasevich was card dead during that time and was just waiting. He still managed to go into the final table third in chips.

At the final table, Tomasevich started off running quite bad and got down to just 50,000 chips when three-handed with Matthew Sebby and Angelo Peralta. Tomasevich kept doubling up his short stack to run it back up, and then knocked out Peralta in 3rd place ($3,624) with K-J versus Peralta’s eights all in preflop. The flop came K-K-J, giving Tomasevich the nuts.

Then, when they were heads up, Sebby had taken a marginal chip lead over Tomasevich. In a very critical hand, Tomasevich limped on the button with pocket fours and Sebby checked his option in the big blind. The flop came 6h 2h 2d and both players checked. They also checked the 7h turn. Then, on the 4h river, Sebby bet 50,000 and Tomasevich went all in for 678,000. Sebby called and turned over 6-2 for twos full of sixes, but it was no good against the rivered fours full for Tomasevich. Sebby was left short-stacked after that and was out shortly after.

Tomasevich admits, “I did get lucky in the end,” but adds, “You gotta run good in tournaments, instead of running bad. So this time I ran good.” With this being his third final table of the series, he was due to run good. It was a great one to run good in, especially with the $10,000 WSOP Main Event freeroll that came with the win. Tomasevich says playing in the Main Event is one of his lifelong dreams, and he is looking forward to fulfilling that dream this summer in Las Vegas.

The penultimate event of the CPC was the $360 buyin Turbo that started at noon today. Poker pro Shawn Rice (pictured) outlasted a field of 169 players, and a pretty tough final table, to emerge victorious. For the win, Rice gets $13,595, a WSOP Main Event seat worth $10,000, and a trophy.

Rice has been in the poker world for a long time, going back to the Amarillo Slim days in Texas. Rice is from Amarillo, Texas, and by his mid-twenties, he was traveling around the world playing poker with Amarillo Slim himself. He sees himself as a hybrid poker player, bridging the old school poker days and the newer internet-style play of the younger pros. He says that hanging around with a lot of younger players, he learns the new concepts. He was also a big part of the internet poker boom and was a pro for Ultimate Bet back in the day.

Rice cashed in a couple other tournaments this series and made Day 2 of the Main, but was eliminated before the cash. This is a nice way to wrap up the series for him. It is also his second win here at the Horseshoe, as he won the H.2.O. event in 2015 for $10,127.

He says he didn’t have many chips early in the day and was just grinding away for awhile, but then started catching some good cards. When he was showing down big hands, he was able to get some bluffs through too, which allowed him to build up his stack.

He went into the final table second in chips with 407,000, though Kennii Nguyen was the overwhelming chip leader with 1,600,000. Fortunately for Rice, he got an ideal seat draw for the final table, with Nguyen directly to his right, and WSOP bracelet winner Jean “Prince” Gaspard two to his right. Rice says he was determined to play a big pot with Nguyen, and that because of the $10,000 Main Event seat added to first place, “Second’s not really an option. You have to play to win it.” And that’s what Rice did.

After awhile, Rice had taken over the chip lead, and then he mixed it up with Nguyen. Nguyen completed in the small blind with sixes, Rice raised with A-T suited, and Nguyen shipped less than 20 big blinds. Rice called, flopped a gut-shot straight draw, and turned Broadway to eliminate Nguyen in 5th place for $3,122. Rice went on to win the tournament, the $13,595, and his seat in the WSOP Main Event this summer.

Event #12 $250 NLH with $2,000 Double Qualifier Bonuses and four WSOP Main Event seats added drew 1,081 entries across five starting flights on Saturday and Sunday. The total prize pool for the event was $218,362. After paying out the min-cashers, the seven double qualifiers, and the one triple qualifier, the Day 2 prize pool was $181,662. David Harth (pictured, right) won the event for a payday of $35,009 and a $10,000 Main Event seat.

Harth is a retired attorney from Madison, Wisconsin who has been playing poker for 50 years. “Phil Hellmuth used to play in my basement, that’s how far back I go.”

His son, John Harth (pictured, left), picked up the game being around it growing up, and the father and son duo enjoy going on poker trips together. “It’s actually a great way to spend time with him.” The younger Harth also played in this event and didn’t cash, but he was there on the rail when his pops took it down.

Harth entered the day 14th in chips out of the 73 returning players and hung around until the final two tables. He says things turned around for him when they were down to two tables and he was all in for his tournament life with A-4 against A-Q, and the board ran out A-3-3-X-A for a chop. “It seemed like that was an omen or something.” He says after that he got really hot, his good hands were holding up, and he was hitting his draws. “I was hitting everything.”

He went into the final table as the second biggest stack, and accumulated chips quickly. With seven players left, he was the big stack and start-of-day chip leader Frank Cerminara was second in chips. The tides changed soon, and after Cerminara was eliminated in 5th place ($8,462), Harth had a stranglehold on the table. He eliminated Jason Reno in 4th place ($11,080) when his pocket sevens held up against Reno’s A-J all in preflop, and then took out Blake Battaglia in 3rd place ($15,011) with Ks Qs in the small blind against Battaglia’s Kd 2s in the big blind. Harth was already way ahead and the board ran out Tc 9s 5c Js Ah, giving Harth the nut straight on the turn which improved to Broadway on the river.

He had around a 10:1 chip lead to start heads-up with Abraham Montenegro, and it didn’t last long. Soon, Montenegro got it in with 9h 6h in the small blind and Harth called with 9c 8h in the big blind, once again in a dominating position. Neither player made a pair and Harth won with the 9-8 high on a board of Qd Qc 5c 4d Th.

As soon as it ended Harth remarked, “The old guy won!” It’s about time.

When asked if he is excited to play the Main Event in Las Vegas Harth responded, “You bet I am.” He has played it before but hasn’t cashed. Maybe this will be Harth’s year. It was definitely his tournament today.

David Harth took down Event #12, the $250 NLH with Double Qualifier bonus event. David Harth came into the final table short-stacked, but came back to win the whole thing for $35,009 plus a bonus $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat. A full winner story will be posted soon.